Road grit and grime quickly dulls your shiny finish, brake dust gathers on your rims, bug splatter mucks up your windshield — and that says nothing about the disaster kids can be in the car, leaving their little fingerprints on the windows, food crumbs on the seat, mud on the seat back and floor mats and who knows what else they are stashing in seat pockets or hiding under the seat.

“There is a lot of time and effort that goes into cleaning a car, so you want to make sure it stays looking neat and tidy for as long as possible,” said Megan Currie, Marketing Manager for Armor All for Spectrum Brands Inc. “Thankfully, you don’t have to do a full inside-and-out, top-to-bottom clean every time you get a speck of dust on the hood.”

To keep your car looking like it just rolled off the showroom floor, try the following:

Clean the bugs

One of the first things to get messed up will be your windshield and front end as it plows through clouds of bugs. Bug splatter is inescapable, and leaves an unsightly mess that your wipers just can’t clean off. Bug and tar remover is ideal for clearing this mess away. Spray on, let it soak for one minute and wipe off with a clean cloth.

Wipe on, wipe off

Portable and easy to use, Armor All’s wash and wax wipes are ideal for keeping your car clean on the go. No need for a bucket and hose. Pull a wipe out of the dispenser and simply wipe the paint to clean and wash your vehicle in record time. Convenient flat pack Wipes are also available to clean your interior trim, windows and GPS display (check out this other post from last month).

Put on the brakes

Brake dust does more than dull the shiny metals of your rims — it can cause physical damage to your car, corroding aluminum and chrome. After cleaning the brake dust off with a rim cleaner, use a protective spray to repel brake dust, dirt and grime. Just spray it on after washing — preferably on a hot, dry day, and let sit for one hour before driving.

Aromatic and stress free

When your car is sitting in the hot sun all day, it doesn’t take much for the air to smell musty and stale. New Armor All & Essential Blends air fresheners can rejuvenate your car’s interior with long-lasting, fresh fragrances. The Essential Blends brand are made with stress-relieving essential oils that destroy typical summer car odours like food, pet and smoke with more zen-like fragrances like Citrus Pomegranate and Pink Grapefruit.

For more information, please visit armorall.ca and essentialblends.ca.